Semiautomatic door anchor



Filed Dec. 19, 1934 I an! Li,

Z; 42 l i!" 22 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 -FZ5 202% Q Patented July 7, 1936 PATENTOFFIQE 2,046,790 SEMIAUTOMATIC DOOR ANCHOR Edward W. Phillips, Flint,lllich.

Application December 19, 1934, Serial No. 758,326

3 Claims.

This invention aims to provide a novel means whereby a door may be heldfrom swinging, without resorting to use of bricks, or other objects oflike kind, placed on the floor to hold the door "against swinging. Theinvention aims to provide novel means for raising and lowering themember which stops the swinging movement of the door, to provide novelmeans whereby the said member may be held elevated and or be heldsecurely in engagement with the floor, and to provide novel meanswhereby the dog which keeps the floor-engaging member from moving, maybe operated either directly, by an operator, or from the knob on thelock of the door.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and toenhance the utility of devices of that type to which the inventionappertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the inve'ntion resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows in elevation, the inside of a door whereunto the deviceforming the subject matter of this application has been applied, partsbeing broken away;

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the rear side of the housing whichcarries much of the working mechanism;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

4&2: Fig. 6 is an elevation of one of the collars, parts being brokenaway;

Fig. '7 is a transverse section of the collar shown in Fig. 6.

The numeral I designates an ordinary hingedly mounted door or otherclosure. A look casing 2 is mortised into the edge of the door I. Thebeveled latch 3 of the lock casing 2 is operated by a rotatable shaft 4carrying knobs 5. The face plates are shown at 5. The bolt 1 of thelocking mechanism is actuated by a key (not shown) inserted through akey hole 8 in each of the face plates 6. The structure above describedis common and well known, and no novelty is claimed for it, savinginsofar as it may enter into combination with parts hereinafterdescribed.

A box-like housing 9 is provided, and is open at the back, as shown inFig. 3. The housing 9 is secured at M to the inner surface of the doorI, immediately below one of the face plates 5. On the outer surface ofthe housing 9 there is a fixed collar iii in which is journaled theshank H of a knob i2. A shaft l5, preferably rectangular in crosssection, extends through a hole iii in the outer wall of the housing 9.The shaft i5 extends into the shank H of the knob l2, and is held 10.therein by a securing element H.

A pinion i9 is mounted on the shaft I5, within the housing 9, and incontact with the outer wall of the housing. A washer I8 is mounted onthe shaft l5, within the housing 9, and a cotter pin 15. or the like inthe shaft I 5 cooperates with the washer l8 to hold the pinion l9 on theshaft 15.

A rack 2| meshes with the pinion I9 and forms part of a bar 22, mountedfor right line sliding movement in the housing 9, against one edge wallof the housing, and behind a guide strip 23, secured to the said edgewall, the guide strip 23 preferably being an angle member, as shown inFig. 5 of the drawings. An anchor 24 is formed on the lower end of theguide strip 23. The rack bar 22 includes a stem 25, extended downwardly,and located below the lower part of the housing 9. Threaded for verticaladjustment on the lower end of the stem 25 there is a socket 26, whichmay be secured in place on the stem 25 by any suitable means, such as anut shown at 2?. A friction foot 28, preferably made of rubber or arubber compound, is mounted in the socket 26. The stem 25 slides invertically spaced guides 29 on the inner surface of the door The upperend of a pull spring 30 extends through a hole 3| in the bottom of thehousing 9 and is connected by a hook to the anchor 24 on the guide strip23. The lower end ofthe pull spring is secured detachably at 32 to thestem 25 of the rack bar 22.

Mounted on the inner surface of the outer wall of the housing 9, abovethe pinion I9 is a. guide 34, in which a dog 35 is mounted for verticalreciprocation, the dog being supplied with a reduced lower end 36,adapted to be engaged with the teeth of the pinion l9. The guide 34 hasoutstanding ears 38, to which are secured the lower ends of a retractilespring 31, the intermediate portion of the spring 31 being engaged witha projection 39, preferably a hook, on the upper part of the dog 35. Thedog 35 has an outwardly projecting handle 40, mounted to move in anelongated slot 4| formed in the housing 9.

The lower end of a flexible element 42, prefer- 55 ably a light chain,is connected at 43 to the handle 40 of the dog 35, outwardly of thehousing 9. The flexible element 42 has two upwardly extended divergingbranches 44 terminating in hooks 45 or the like, which are adapted to beengaged, detachably and for adjustment, in openings 46 formed in atransversely convexed collar 41 secured at 48 to the shank of one of thedoor knobs 5.

The operator pulls up on the handle 40 of the dog 35, thereby raisingthe dog, so that its end 36 is not engaged with the pinion [9, thespring 31 being elongated. The operator then rotates the shaft l5 by wayof the knob l2, and the pinion l9, cooperating with the rack 2|, forcesthe rack bar 22 downwardly, until the foot 28 on the lower end of thestem 25 of the rack bar engages the floor, to hold the door in openposition, the spring 3!} being elongated. The operator then releases thehandle 40 of the dog 35, and the dog 35 resumes the position of Fig. 3,under the action of the spring 3?, the end 36 of the dog being engagedwith the teeth of the pinion IS. The door, thus, is held securely butfrictionally in an open position. It is possible, of course, to use themechanism to aid in holding the door closed, as well as open. The holdof the foot 28 on the floor may be relieved by pulling up on the handle48 of the dog 35, thereby disengaging the dog from the pinion [9. Thespring 39 then pulls up the rack bar 22, the rack 2i rotating the pinionI9, the shaft I5 and the knob l2.

The device may be referred to as semi-automatic, in that the dog 35 neednot be raised by putting the hand of the operator directly on the handle46 of the dog. That observation holds true regardless of whether the dog35 is raised to permit the rack bar 22 and parts associated therewith tobe forced down into working position through the instrumentality of thepinion 19, the shaft [5 and the knob [2, or is raised to permit the rackbar to move upwardly responsive to the spring 33. The operator canrotate the shaft 4 of Fig. 2 by the inside knob 5, a pull being exertedon one of the branches 44 of the flexible element 42, the dog 35 beingraised, because the flexible element 42 is connected to the handle 40 ofthe dog. The length of the branches 44 of the flexible element 42 may beadjusted, so that the dog 35 will be raised when the knob 5 is rotated,by mounting the hooks 45 on the branches 44 of the flexible element 42in any selected ones of the openings 46 in the collar 41, that collarbeing secured at 44 to the shank of the knob 5 which has been turned.

The device is advantageous for many reasons, not the least of which isthat it is not necessary for the operator to stoop down and move a doorweight, or kick a door weight out of the way with corresponding damageto footwear.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In a door holder, a housing, a floor-engaging rack bar mounted forreciprocation in the housing, a pinion journaled on the housing andmeshing with the rack bar, means for rotating the pinion from a pointwithout the housing, a dog mounted on the housing and engaging thepinion to hold the pinion against rotation, a member supported forrotation above the housing, a collar on said member and provided withcircumferentially spaced openings, diverging flexible elements providedat their upper ends with means for engagement, releasably, in theopenings of the collar, and means for connecting the lower ends of theflexible elements to the dog.

2. In a door holder, a box-like housing open at the back and having afront wall and an edge wall, an angle strip one flange of which issecured to the edge wall, the other flange of the angle stripcooperating with the front wall to form a guideway, the lower end of theangle strip being provided with an anchor, a floor-engaging bar slidablein the guideway and provided with a rack, a shaft journaled in the frontwall of the housing, a pinion on the shaft and meshing with the rack andholding the bar for right line sliding movement in the guideway, withthe bar in contact with the edge wall, a pull spring connected to thebar and to the anchor, and releasable means for holding the bardepressed, against the effort of the spring.

3. In a door holder, a face plate, a door knob journaled on the faceplate, a housing, a floorengaging rack bar mounted for reciprocation inthe housing, a pinion journaled in the housing and meshing with the rackbar, a handle operativeiy connected with the pinion and constitutingmeans for rotating the pinion from a point without the housing, to causethe rack bar to attain a hold on the floor, spring means for moving therack bar to release it from the floor, a dog movably mounted on thehousing and engaging the pinion to hold the pinion against rotation andto keep the rack bar engaged with a floor, a member secured to the dogand movable in the housing, a flexible element connected to said memberand to the door knob, whereby the dog may be released from the pinion byway of the door knob, the flexible element being shorter than thecombined length of the face plate and the housing, and means forsecuring the face plate and the housing to a door, with one end of thehousing in contact with one end of the face plate, whereby the housingand the face plate, together, will constitute a wear-receiving means,interposed between the flexible element and a door.

EDWARD W. PHILLIPS.

